|
|
 
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||||
|
Gerhard Rust, Austria Eurolines
1st Interactive Panel Session
Gerhard Rust - Austria Eurolines
I thank you for the invitation and hope with my summary to be able to draw to your attention, from a practical point of view, the problems we are coming up against as a result of various statutory regulations. However, there are proposals on how to solve the problems, which we are already discussing jointly with the authorities. Blaguss Reisen has been operating international scheduled coach services for more than 30 years, predominately to eastern and south-eastern European countries. These routes are officially licensed motor transport service routes within the terms of EU Regulation 684/92 or, in non-EU countries, take account of inter-governmental agreements and the currently applicable Austrian law relating to motor transport passenger services. On account of its geographic position, Vienna is a junction for much north-south-east-west traffic, and because of its particular location, we are naturally affected by problems of illegal entry into Austria or the Schengen Treaty countries. For this reason, it was quite early on that we agreed to co-operate with the authorities concerned. The coach certainly has a competitive disadvantage when compared with train or plane, in having to stop at borders. Accordingly, all our efforts are directed towards simplifying border crossings. As against this, there are obligations under the aliens law which have to be observed in Austria. Furthermore, the Austrian law relating to aliens is at present being amended, and although we do not yet have the exact text, we may assume that controls will be intensified and the penalties for transport companies will be greatly increased. Apart from border controls, spot checks on international coach routes are carried out in EU countries over and over again. This means that coaches are stopped on motorways. It is the operators of international coach services who are primarily affected by intensified controls, and it is these companies who are subjected to strict regulations anyway (EU 684/92 and similar). These companies are more likely to be noticed by the authorities because they are known and they keep to time-tables, on the whole, precisely. I am sorry to say that companies operating in a grey area, or even illegally, are checked less often because the majority of them are not identified as scheduled service operators. This leads to even keener competition. Unfortunately, official control is carried out to a limited extent. We have decided - and recommend it to all companies operating regular services - to co-operate with the authorities, and we are at the moment jointly drawing up concrete plans to support the authorities. Within the framework of the partnership, consideration is being given to the proposal to provide the authorities with information from the booking system about the transported passengers. Certainly the driver can also undertake certain tasks, but he must receive unquestioning support from the executive authority in cases of conflict. The main task of the driver is to drive his vehicle without serious hindrance. Distractions which affect his concentration when working, for example disputes with a passenger, are to be avoided. According to statutory regulations, the driver may only start the vehicle if he is in a position to do so without hindrance. Ejecting a person from the coach using physical force is accordingly not possible, and is a duty of the executive authority. We know from experience that the driver, due to his various activities when departing, is not in a position to prevent an unauthorised person from boarding the coach. Our natural interest is that only passengers with valid travel documents and tickets come aboard our vehicles. We must however try to conduct our checks largely in advance, even when selling tickets, for example. That would easily be possible in Austria, but presumes readiness to co-operate on the part of our partners in the particular countries of destination. We understand the interests of the authorities, and are prepared to co-operate actively. But this must not lead to a situation whereby the competitive position for operators of international scheduled services once again deteriorates. Active co-operation with the authorities should also lead to preferential clearance at frontiers for companies operating regular services, who are subject to these regulations. Another measure that would accelerate clearance at frontiers is that people who are stopped because they want to enter a country by unauthorised means should in future be made to leave the vehicle, so that the coach is not held up for an unnecessarily long period because of this action. The Austrian authorities have already accepted this request, and we hope that their colleagues in other countries will treat such a situation similarly. Furthermore, we are attempting to require customers to provide a personal identification document even when selling tickets. As an example of this, we have recently included this obligation as to identification papers in our terms and conditions of business for bookings via Internet. When the customer then boards the coach, he will automatically have to produce a personal identification document. We will also include our foreign colleagues in the co-operation with Austrian authorities, and obviously imagine that a similar procedure would also be possible in other countries. Summary - recommendations for solutions
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
